Pumpkin Ale Brewday

Well it seems like all of my brewing buddies are in on the pumpkin ale this year.  I decided to jump into the action this past weekend with a Pumpkin ale all my own.  Ashley made for a great brewing partner (though I still miss you Mark [and Amber]) and game updater (The Razorbacks were in a heated match against the Aggies, they won!).  She thought the beer was really smelling nice during mash and boil.  Here is my grain bill for the brew (3 gallon batch, don't want any bottles after the holidays):

9.5# Roasted Pie Pumpkin (cut into small chunks)
6# Organic American 2-row
1/3# Dingeman's Caramel 45L
1/3# Carapils

 

Roasted Pumpkins, they came out perfectly...

 

Adding that grain player.

 

Grain and Pumpkin...just add water.

I meant to mash at 154 but failed to include the weight of the pumpkin into my calculations so I ended up at 140F.  After two more boiling additions (and close to 40 minutes) I was finally just over 150F.  Decided not to mess with it and let it sit for 40 or 45 minutes.

 

Halfway through the sparge.

Before boiling I stirred in a 1/4# of dark brown sugar.  Here is my hop schedule:

1.25oz Hersbrucker (German Noble Hop, 3.8% AA) at 70 min
0.75oz Hersbrucker at 10 min

 

The nice thing about 3 gallon batches is you can have a nice ferocious boil.

 

I don't know how else to say it, the Hersbrucker hops smelled great....very Noble. That's Ash adding the hops....no, I don't paint my nails.

 

Ashley's dogs (left to right: Mercedes, Haley) were very helpful and entertaining on this fine brewday.  That's me in the background chillin like a villain.

The brew day went fine (pumpkin was a little messy) but I missed my desired OG (1.054) by over ten points.  I was closer to a 1.042 OG.  I started to think it was from either the crappy mash (but then decided the mash wasn't that bad, I basically had a two stage mash) or from using organic malts (thinking possible they had a lower sugar yield per pound of grain).  However, when I went to dump the grain I realized what it was.  I noticed a lot of the hulls were not even cracked.  So I am very disappointed in myself for not checking my crush.  I should have looked after it was crushed, turned the wheel in more and ran it through again.  Oh well, I'm going to make lemonade from this lemon.  Being low on gravity (and ultimately lower in alcohol), Ash recommended I call this brew 'Pumpkin D-light' to admit that yes, it is a lighter beer, but it will be a delight regardless.  This brew will probably end up around 4.5% ABV and 30 IBU.  The color is nice and I think there will be a nice pumpkin flavor to it.  It may turn out to be a good low cal brew.

I am going to add a very small amount of spices to the secondary.

I used a vial of White Labs California Ale yeast that was very viable (big hiss and suds when I cracked it open).  Fermentation has already slowed almost to a halt and the smell of the airlock is clean and hoppy and earthy (pumpkiny).  I can't wait to see how this brew turns out!
 
P.S.  No pics of it in a fermentor because I was out of carboys....had to use a plastic bucket!

I am brewing a Scottish Ale next weekend so be sure to  check back!

-Matt and Ash